An invitation
by Flickering Torch
Summary: Ron just isn't taking the hint. my thoughts on how the Qudditch ledgend asked the Gryffindor bookworm to the ball. one-shot


An invitation

**Disclaimer: if you recognize it, it's not mine **

"Hey Hermione" Harry said as she sat down at the breakfast table in the great hall. Ron made a noise like a dying animal through a mouthful of food. Assuming this was a greeting Hermione said an airy "Good morning" and pulled a platter of bacon and eggs towards her.

Ron still hadn't asked her to the Yule ball and she was starting to get impatient. As if reading her mind Harry threw down his toast and sighed in frustration. "I need a partner for the ball, but all the girls are taken, I'm going to look like a bloody idiot standing there by myself while all the other champions have partners." He said, his eyes flickering the hall entrance where Cedric and Cho were talking. So Harry liked Cho, that was interesting.

Ron swallowed "you mean all the good looking ones, I hear Eloise Midgeons still free." He sniggered, but Harry only rolled his eyes at his best mate's attempts at humor. Hermione sat, fuming silently, was she so ugly that she didn't count as a girl? In that moment she hated Ron, she never wanted to go anywhere with him, let alone to the Yule ball. She stood and mumbled a pathetic excuse about going to the library, they, Ron had already returned to stuffing his face but Harry looked mollified and returned to his food, although he didn't look nearly so enthusiastic about the prospect of his toast as Ron did.

After a diversion to a girls bathroom, where she had been taunted relentlessly by Myrtle, she entered the library, hurriedly wiping the tears from her face. Hermione threw her copy of Spellman's Syllabry onto the desk, earning her a reproving glare from Mrs. Price; she glared right back through puffy red eyes. She had been working on her arithmancy essay for a few minutes when she heard the door open and close, and a set of foot steps move towards her. She shifted her hair so it hid her swollen eyes and pale face, she wouldn't give Ron the satisfaction of knowing he'd hurt her.

"Excuse me" the voice was deeper than Ron's, it was heavily accented and had a polite tone, something Ron's never held. Curiosity got the better of her and she looked up at Krum, standing awkwardly behind the chair opposite her. "May I sit here?" she didn't raise the point that she was the only student in the library, so all the other tables would be free. Instead she said heavily. "I suppose so". He sat opposite her but made no move to get out a book or any homework, he just shot her a curious look, his eyes lingering on her tearstained ones. "Ver are your friends?" he asked in a much gentler voice. "Normally you are never by yourself" he sounded a little bit hopeful, yet his forehead was creased as though he was concentrating on Hermione intently. "Eating, I should expect, it's what they noemaly do" she muttered stiffly.

His face was transfigured, he still looked a little uncomfortable, nervous even, but he looked greatly relieved. "I vas wondering, I haff tried to ask before, but they so rarely leave your side. Would you accompany me to he Yule ball" Hermione sat in a stunned silence, refusing to believe his offer, pretending to believe that It was another cruel joke, intended to humiliate her. When she didn't answer he tried to elaborate, looking uncomfortable again. "I vould haff tried to ask you sooner but Potter and his friend are always hanging around with you." He lapsed into an awkward silence, why would an international Quidditch player want to go out with Hermione Granger? She thought o herself. Suddenly she found that she didn't care, nobody would tease or jeer at her for not having a date and who would dare call her ugly when she was on the arm of Victor Krum. "Thank you Viktor, I would love to" she beamed at him and after he'd made the plans of where to meet her before the ball he left the library, leaving Hermione to her thoughts. At fist she was ecstatic, thinking of ways she could tame her hair and fix her face, but then the smile slid from her face as she remembered that it wouldn't be Ron she would be meting in the great hall the following week, but Victor. With a twinge of guilt, she gathered her belongings and vacated her chair in the library.

**Please let me know what you think, this was a fun one to write because you don't really see much of Viktor's personality in the goblet of fire so I kind of had free reign with him. Please review, hope you enjoyed!**


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